Once Upon a Time in China
IV
Reviewed by YTSL
At some point during one’s acquaintance with
Hong Kong cinema, the observation cannot help but be made that those associated
with it appear to have a distinct fondness for the number 3. After
all, it’s not just “The Heroic Trio” (and its sequel, “Executioners”) which
features a starry threesome but also such disparate movies as “The Soong
Sisters”, “Peking Opera Blues”, “A Better Tomorrow”, “Once a Thief”, “The
Private Eyes” and “Wu Yen”. Then there are all those three-part series
out there like the “A Chinese Ghost Story”, “Swordsman” and “Infernal Affairs”
sagas. And funnily enough, I’d also be willing to wager that there
are quite a few fans out there who have been moved to conclude that many,
if not all, of the series which stretched beyond Part 3 probably would
have been better served if they have had come to a close at the end of
their third installment.
With regards to the “Once Upon a Time in China”
series: It certainly doesn’t help that its fourth installment has a different
director and main star along with lead actress from the previous three
OUATICs. And although Tsui Hark did at least remain on board to co-script
(along with Elsa Tang) and - produce (with Ng See Yuen) ONCE UPON A TIME
IN CHINA IV, gone is so much of what made the first three “Once Upon a
Time in China”s so much more than the out-and-out wire-work action spectacle
that the main individuals behind this 1993 Golden Harvest cum Film Workshop
production appeared content for it to be.
To be sure though, ONCE UPON A TIME IN IV is once
again not without a multi-stranded plot that ensures that Wong Fei Hung
(essayed in this movie by Chiu Man Cheuk) will have to battle against more
than one formidable enemy (two of whom are played by Chin Kar Lok and Billy
Chow). Some semblance of continuity is provided too by this particular
installment purporting to begin immediately after the events of “Once Upon
a Time in China III”: with a senior Ching court official meeting with Wong
Sifu to successfully persuade him to accept the gold medal he refused at
the end of the earlier film, as well as agree to take part in another ultra-competitive
Lion King competition, albeit one with the twist of being an international
contest organized by the eight foreign powers (including Britain, Japan
and the U.S.A., but with the Germans marked out here as being the most
nefarious of the enemies) which China feels most obliged to not lose face
to.
As Lisa Morton noted in “The Cinema of Tsui Hark”,
ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA IV also has a plot which “borrows heavily from
the first three entries in the series” (2001:195). More specifically,
this Yuen Bun-helmed as well as action-directed offering takes “the element
of the sympathetic white priest from “Once Upon a Time in China [I]”, the
dangerous anti-foreign-intervention cult from II, and the Lion King Competition
from III” (Lisa Morton, 2001:196). Present in the picture too are
the likes of the mischievous Leung Fu (portrayed once more by Max Mok),
enemy-turned-student Club Foot (essayed for a third time by Xiong Xin Xin)
and Wong Kei Yin (Film Workshop favorite, Lau Shun, reprises the role of
the elder Master Wong). Additionally, while Rosamund Kwan’s Sap Saam
Ee (trans., 13th Aunt; AKA Auntie Yee) is nowhere to be seen, Wong Fei
Hung has similar support -- along with distractions -- in the form of Sap
Seh Ee (trans., 14th Aunt; AKA Auntie May), Sap Saam Ee’s equally Westernized
sister (played by Jean Wong).
Small wonder then that so much of ONCE UPON A
TIME IN CHINA IV comes across as recycled rather than original (...though,
it has to be admitted, moments of inventiveness are apparent, like in the
case of the fight on blocks of wood which were liable to fall like dominoes).
At the same time, where I feel that the film most suffers -- and loses
out in comparison to the earlier OUATICs (and, especially, the first two)
-- is with regards to its reduced ideological scale. As an example,
while Wong Fei Hung continues to ostensibly act as a Chinese patriot plus
function as the archetype of the physically able Chinese man, his primary
motivation for those of his actions which propel the latter part of this
movie appears to be the seeking of vengeance for the death of a good man
who just happened to have been a Chinese court official (rather than something
larger as well as more abstract in nature).
Furthermore, even while ONCE UPON A TIME IN CHINA
IV has its moments of melodrama together with comedy, it feels devoid as
well of genuine emotion plus emotional heft. To my mind, some of
this emotional disconnect is a function of it feeling like this fourth
OUATIC really was made just to capitalize on the commercial success of
the earlier OUATICs. At a more observable level, it also may stem
from the serial good guys somehow not having been particularly affected
by being subject to torture while being held prisoner by the Germans or
even shot by them. Then there’s the Jet Li factor. Suffice
to state here that the actor’s absence from this work was felt, and most
regretted, by this (re)viewer.
My rating for the film: 5.5